Nooooooo! The holidays are over! That’s so sad! I am back to work but my brain is still somewhere in Kiso or Osaka. I go home at about 11:30 last night after being away since Wednesday. I feel like a zombie and my stomach is not really all that pleased either. I need a nap! I had a simply wonderful week though. I spent the first four days with Dec hitting the local hot spots in Nagano. We went to Lake Suwa, Naria, Kaida, Mt. Takabochi, Mitake and of course Kiso Fukushima and Shiojiri. This first picture was taken in Naria. It is a perserved town close to Shiojiri. This is a statue in the cemetary. Nagano is a beautiful place. I can’t see enough of it. I love going to the city but every time I come home to Nagano it feels good. I went back to work for two days before leaving again on the Wednesday for Osaka. I have never been there before and my friend recently moved to Osaka so I wanted to visit her and see the sights. Jenn from Kiso met up with us on the second day and we had a good time together. We got very little sleep over all though. I really need some sleep now. But that’s the way to do it isn’t it? Just squeeze everything you can out of the short time that is available to you. You’ll always sleep another day. This next picture is of Rishi and Jen in Mitake at the Evolution Park. They have all of those fish streamers hung up for childrens day and the statue in the middle is the sun.

There are only three months left of my job here. I don’t know what to think about that. I am excited to see everyone back home but because I am unsure about what I will do or what job I will have, I don’t know how it’s going to be. After having lived here for about two years I can see myself building a life here but it isn’t really what I want. I would like to stay for a few more years in a different job to get better at Japanese. I am just starting to finally put it all together. I can understand most thing that people say to me and can have a reasonable conversation with people who I meet. I wish I could read though. I want to read manga, Japanese comic books. They look so cool. I have watched a lot of animated series on the net though with subtitles. I wasn’t into anime before I came here, nor was I into Japan for that matter, but now I can see how cool it is. My recommendations for anyone interested are GTO and Death Note. You can watch them both with English subtitles on the net. GTO is now finished but Death Note is still being made and is very popular here. There are also movies. Tom and I are addicted!Understanding pop culture is an important part of understanding jokes and conversations. I would love to know more. I was never too on top of that kind of thing in Canada either though. I am worried that all of my Japanese will just disappear when I leave. I have thought about trying to qualify in Japanese as another teachable subject so I could keep it up. I know it isn’t a highly demanded teaching subject but it could be done. The next picture is of Lake Suwa at sunset. Also a photo of one of the many swan boats that are on the lake. We were in a small one and tried to dock with the larger one unsuccessfully.

Another thing that I have gotten into recently is gaming. I really love the Nintendo Wii and I recently bought a DS Lite. It is newly launched in Japan and I am loving the new Super Mario game. It has really gone back to its roots. I spent a lot of time playing Mario games with my brother when I was young and it is nice to see some of the cool original elements maintained. It has really made commuting around a lot more fun.

This photo is of Jen and Dec saluting on top of the model planet earth. Jen recently joined the Kiso Fukushima fire department, much to the shock of everyone else. I am pretty sure she is the first foreign person, let alone foreign woman, to join the fire department. She was featured on local TV news as a result. I think she saluts rather well. She apparently has practise every night for it although she is excused from hose practise for some reason. She says she will go anyways.

I am looking forward to cloths shopping though I have to say. I need it too. Everything I have is too small or too big or horrible. I really want to get all new everything. Usually when I feel this way though I just need to put all of last seasons cloths away. That way I am only looking at spring and summer stuff. I started packing my winter stuff in boxes to send home and I have been lining up people to take the stuff that I don’t want to bring back. Still not sure what to do with the piano. I guess I will try to sell it.
Everyone’s parents are visiting right now. It is fun to meet them. Tom’s mom has just gone home today and Gisela’s whole family is still here now. Dec’s parents arrive soon. I will try and do another blog this week in which I talk about Osaka but for today I will just leave it with the first half of my holidays. I have loads of photos from Osaka so I will try and only pick out the interesting ones. Digital cameras lead to an extreme amount of photos being taken by me, most of which aren't very interesting. I will pick out the highlights as best as possible. Thanks to everyone who has written to me recently. I love the cards and letters! Emails are great too. It is so nice to come home from work and find mail that isn't junk or bills. I miss you guys and it's great that you remember that I'm over here.